Fierce clashes break out in Egypt after Friday prayers

SQUARING OFF:Islamist groups yesterday called for new protests today, on the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and for efforts to retake Tahrir Square

AFP, CAIRO

The Anti-Coup alliance of Islamist groups called on its supporters to try once more to reach Cairo’s Tahrir Square, blocked off by the army, to mark today’s 40th anniversary of the war.

The conflict, known as the October War in the Arab world and the Yom Kippur War in Israel, is remembered proudly by the Egyptian army as it caught Israel’s defences unawares and ultimately led to Egypt’s recovery of the Sinai Peninsula in a 1979 peace treaty.